Etiquetas

New PowerLinux technology and software

This
month, the PowerLinux team is announcing the biggest technology change in PowerLinux servers
since we launched, with the availability of our POWER7+ chips on the platform.

POWER7+ is more than just a speed bump on our POWER7
processors.Our hardware teams have
worked hard to increase the flexibility of the platform, bringing
balanced performance increases while keeping other factors like energy
consumption at bay.Some examples:

We’ve
doubled the memory capacity in servers like the 7R1 and 7R2.We’ve also doubled the number of virtual
machines you can allocate to a single processor core.This means we’ve dramatically increased
the system’s flexibility when it comes to deploying virtualized workloads
… in many cases, this will eliminate memory as the gating factor, allowing
users to drive utilization rates even higher and boost system efficiency.

We’ve
reduced the feature size in the chips from 45 nm to 32 nm.This not just a simple die shrink,
though … with every shrink, the chip team has to work even harder to
ensure the computational and thermal stability of the chip while driving
higher clock speeds.In PowerLinux
servers like the 7R2, the new chips now top out at 4.2 GHz.

Because we have more available chip real estate now that we’ve shrunk the die
size, we’ve bumped up the L3 cache from 4 MB to 10 MB.This significantly boosts performance in
workloads that are memory dependent, like Java and big data applications.

Other
feature additions to POWER7+ allow us to improve chip reliability and
boost energy savings.We’ve added
self-healing capabilities and automatic processor reinitialization to
increase system robustness, and we’ve introduced a new energy saving mode
that saves 45% more energy than before when the processor is idle.

The new performance capabilities afforded by POWER7+ enable
some pretty interesting possibilities when it comes to reducing costs.For example, we’ve found that people
typically need just two dual-socket (16 core) PowerLinux 7R2s to do what it
would take three dual-socket (16 core) Xeon servers to do.Given the already competitive pricing on the
7R2s, this means that you can potentially save north of 40% on your costs of acquisition by choosing PowerLinux.

These changes make PowerLinux an ideal platform for the most
critical workloads your business runs today, like your customer facing web
applications, or your ERP system.Customers like Kwik Fit (PDF) and IT Informatik (PDF) are already realizing the benefits. Click the links to read the
case studies on these customers.

But PowerLinux is also a great platform for today’s growth
workloads, like development and deployment of mobile and web applications.To make it easier for businesses to create
and launch these types of client experiences, we’re introducing a new solution for WebSphere mobile and web applications that leverages the lightweight
WebSphere Liberty Profile software.This
is a light, easily reconfigured web app environment that makes it simple for
developers to test and deploy applications.

As 2013 progresses, we'll continue to bring you more
announcements that improve the PowerLinux platform's ability to reduce costs while improving
efficiency, enabling new and growth workloads, and giving you a better overall
experience.